Pema Chödrön tells the story of when, having hit rock bottom, she asked her teacher what to do. I thought I would tell you this little story about Naropa University’s founder, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and my very first one-on-one interview with him. This interview occurred during the time when my life was completely falling apart, and I went there because I wanted to talk [...]
Pema Chödrön and Jack Kornfield talk “The Wondrous Path of Difficulties”
A conversation with Pema Chödrön and Jack Kornfield, moderated by Michael Krasny about the everyday difficulties that provoke us, reveal our habitual patterns, and ultimately transform us. Call it luck, good luck. A sellout crowd of over 3,000 people arrives at the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco to listen to a discussion with two of America's most respected and [...]
Tonglen: Bad In, Good Out
A teaching on Tonglen practice by Pema Chödrön, and how it begins by taking in our own suffering before we can help others. In order to have compassion for others, we have to have compassion for ourselves. In particular, to care about other people who are fearful, angry, jealous, overpowered by addictions of all kinds, arrogant, proud, miserly, selfish — you name it — [...]
Two Practices for Times of Tragedy
Tibetan Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön and Zen teacher Bernie Glassman both teach three-step meditations that can help foster wisdom in times of tragedy. When tragedy strikes, we can feel like the ground has dropped out from under our feet. The Buddhist view, though, is that these experiences offer an opportunity to directly experience wisdom and compassion — exactly what [...]
What Is Suffering? 10 Buddhist Teachers Weigh In
The Pali word dukkha is most commonly translated to English as "suffering." Dukkha presents in an array of emotions — from happiness to despair. While counterintuitive, it is a central concept in the Buddha's teachings. In these passages, adapted from longer teachings on Lion's Roar, 10 teachers explain what suffering is, how we feel it, and why it isn't a condemnation — it's a [...]
The Fine Art of Failing
In her commencement speech at Naropa University, Pema Chödrön explains that if there’s one thing we all need to practice, it's how to fail well. When Naropa asked me for the topic of my talk, I decided not to give it to them because I thought if I did, they wouldn’t let me do it! My talk is inspired by a quote from Samuel Beckett that goes like this: “Fail. Fail again. Fail [...]
The Key to Knowing Ourselves Is Meditation
Meditation practice awakens our trust that the wisdom and compassion that we need are already within us. It helps, says Pema Chödrön, to know ourselves: our rough parts and our smooth parts, our passion, aggression, ignorance and wisdom. Meditation practice awakens our trust that the wisdom and compassion that we need are already within us. It helps us to know ourselves: our [...]
Becoming Pema
Andrea Miller on the life and spiritual journey of one Deirdre Blomfield-Brown. Pema Chödrön was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in New York City in 1936. She has said that she had a pleasant childhood with her Catholic family, but that her spiritual life didn’t begin until she attended boarding school, where her intellectual curiosity was cultivated. At age twenty-one, [...]
Feed the Right Wolf
Pema Chödrön describes the process of looking compassionately and honestly at our own minds. In the end, she says, freeing ourselves from anger and hostility comes down to choosing which wolf we want to feed. As human beings we have the potential to disentangle ourselves from old habits, and the potential to love and care about each other. We have the capacity to [...]
The Natural Warmth of the Heart
In the difficulties of your life, says Pema Chödrön, you will discover your natural love and warmth. Before we can know what natural warmth really is, often we must experience loss. We go along for years moving through our days, propelled by habit, taking life pretty much for granted. Then we or someone dear to us has an accident or gets seriously ill, and it’s as if blinders [...]